In Swimming To Work, Michael Homan writes of “travelling” in New Orleans a few days after the levees broke.

A year ago today I swam from my flooded house to Xavier University. It’s not something I would recommend. I saw several dead bodies and the scenes still sort of haunt me. I wrote a note about my name, address, and contact info for my parents in Nebraska, and put it in a plastic bag and duct taped it around a string that I wore around my neck. Looking back on it I wish I had brought my camera … Sometimes people would shine a flashlight on me from their house, just to see if I was a troublemaker or whatever. It was pretty scary. Today I’m in Omaha, visiting my mother.

Michael’s recollection reminds me of my father’s final days as a prisoner in a makeshift camp after the Iraqis invaded Kuwait in 1990. Twitching in pain as stomach ulcers flared, Dad wrote out a will on his undershirt, and wore that shirt as much as possible until he made it out to safety more than a month after he was first incarcerated.

Love is such a strange thing. Even when faced with great personal peril, the brain’s instinct is to communicate to those closest to you. That your fate is known to a loved one, that personal matters are taken care of, that closure is achieved.

If my name is upon my chest,
Tell my mama I’ve done my best

This makes me think of our boys and girls in Iraq, too.

I’m incredibly thankful that my father and Michael are still with us today. Life cuts both ways.

On our way back to the car from The Clash In Cleveland, Mark asked me, “So, what do you think of this new flirtation with fascism?”

“Not much, given that I know what the word means,” I replied. “Doesn’t that imbue stateless terrorists with an awful lot of political and psychological power?”  D chimed in, “It’s just another fancy term for the illiterates.”

Every time the current administration releases new advertising for its policy, my brain breaks into a favorite line from Word Disassociation: Agnostic oppressive wall. Platypus parasol. In other words, it’s meaningless, and those who want terms, flags, and symbols with which to strengthen their biases and opinions will latch on. It’s just another day in soundbite land.

The very same evening, W pointed me to this article in Harper’s: The Bush Administration and Godwin’s Law

Yesterday the Associated Press ran a story headlined The new G.O.P. buzzword: Fascism. … The story quoted G.O.P. pollster Ed Goeas as saying, I think it’s an appropriate definition of the war that we’re in. I think it’s effective in that it definitively defines the enemy in a way that we can’t because they’re not in uniforms. Forgive me if I don’t get it just right, but what I think Goeas is saying is: We have no real idea what fascism is; hell, we’re too lazy even to look it up on Wikipedia. But we’ve used up the word “evil“ and we need new red meat. Let’s roll!

… On the Internet, there is a dictum known as Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies, coined in 1990 by a man named Mike Godwin. This law holds that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.  Anyone who has spent time on political discussion boards can see that it’s true; in any charged debate (abortion, Iraq, Israel, foreign policy), it’s only a matter of time before someone compares his opponent to Hitler … It’s commonly understood that once Godwin’s Law is invoked, a conversation is dead”and that any person who invokes Nazis almost definitely has failed to make his point.

I was going to suggest that the hubbub over (fade in Wolf Blitzer drumroll) The War In Iraq (fade out Wolf Blitzer drumroll) reminds me of a long session of Is To – Is Not, but Godwin’s Law works better, simply because it uses observations and probability … and sounds way cooler.

Alan left a typical one-sentence comment on a recent Schroeder post: “We seem to be getting more attention from national media as of late.”

a) It is the first anniversary of Katrina and the media want themselves viewed as compassionate fencesitters moderates.

b) Moreover, we’re entering the Midterms and everyone’s cramming. The Dems are going to use the breakdown of Homeland Security during Katrina as an argument against the Republicans. Before some of you say “Hell yeah!” remember that neither party has done a thing to help this area. This isn’t a political skirmish, it’s a battle for our city’s life. So, as the spotlight creeps over onto us, the need to maintain quality of coverage is as important as the quantity of coverage, if not more. We don’t want to turn into some played-out nostalgia act. Let’s continue to concentrate on content over form, issues over egos (individual or collective), that sort of thing – you get the picture.

In wholly unrelated news, this article (from /.) shows us how easy it is to break into a Diebold voting machine. There is something to be said about two middle-aged women from Black Box Voting (I mean, seriously) who “bought $12 worth of tools and in four minutes penetrated the memory card seals, removed, replaced the memory card, and sealed it all up again without leaving a trace.”

August 29th has come and gone, and the token visit by Arbusto and camera crews with it. The nation has poured out a little liquor for L’Isle d’Orleans and returns to its business. Just like people died the city over last August 31st, the third battle of New Orleans continues today. We still need a rebuilding plan, disaster insurance relief, city sanitation workers, affordable housing, and small business impetus. As if affected by the summer heat, the New Orleans Momentum seems to drag its feet on the sticky asphalt, pausing occasionally to grab a cold beverage.

Someone named ‘jh’ commented on my recent Sepia Mutiny post: “I don’t hear Mississippi whining. Why can’t people just quietly rebuild and get on with their lives? They’ve gotten ridiculous sums of money to rebuild that city …” While I didn’t bother feeding the troll there, I realize the staggering misconceptions people still (want to) have about New Orleans and address them, in the simplest possible terms, in order of receipt.

1. Whino Forever: We are tax-paying Americans who produce a quarter of the nation’s domestic oil supply and a fifth of its natural gas – we’ve earned the right to whine. Therefore, I repeat this one last time to your sensibility-lacking, almost-49-star-flag-waving, supposedly-patriotic self:

The New Orleans Katrina experience is a different one altogether. It was an unnatural disaster (levee breaks) and resulting flood that almost destroyed a large portion of the city, while a natural disaster and winds badly thrashed towns like Biloxi and the rest of the MS-AL Gulf Coast. Even residents of those coastal towns admit that our city has it worse than theirs. The story here is that of a broken social contract (and the lack of any accountability); yonder, it is one of rebuilding when and how. Simply put, we have a much more complicated mess here than the other areas you mention.

2. No Money, Mo’ Problems: We broke, and can’t “quietly rebuild” because our city is bankrupt and needs a cold, hard infusion of cash.

3. Show Me The Money: The entire Gulf Coast affected by Hurricane Katrina and her wake, not just New Orleans, has been allocated $110 billion, of which we have been doled out $44 billion.  But wait … you will see from this post by our City Accountant, Da Po Blog, how the 44 breaks down.  Follow closely because there will be a pop quiz later:

• $110 billion is out the door, but only $44 billion [has reached us].
• “… out of the $44 billion that has gone into someone“s hands, 75% or $33 billion has gone into the hands of the states and cities affected by the hurricanes.”
• “$16 billion [goes to] flood insurance claims, which the federal government has been known to do when reporting how much money they are sending down here.”

One year later, that leaves the entire Gulf Coast with $17 billion, which has been spent on immediate help, rentals, trailers, debris removal and health.  Independent observers state that Katrina Aid Is Far From Flowing.

4. What’s The Plan, Stan?  Federal funds for rebuilding will not be released to us sans a blessed plan. We had a plan, as Mark Folse reminds us: “It was called the Baker Plan, and it would have done the difficult things we are asked to do: clean up not just individual homes but entire neighborhoods; tell some of our friends and neighbors that their areas might not come back. The only real problem with the plan was that you scuttled it and said, no, we won’t do that. You said, go back to the drawing board and try again and try to figure out a way to do it that doesn’t put the federal government on the hook for all the damage it caused.”

Now, we’re in the process of creating the Grand Unified Plan. (Private to locals: There was another NOCSF meeting this morning, BTW, for which we were sent fancy emails a whole two days ago.)  Today’s Times-Picayune headline blares N.O. Planning Process Puts Residents On Edge

… as with the mayor’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission, the process could collapse under the weight of an intricate web of interests that must collaborate to produce action, some critics fear. Currently, the lines of authority and accountability remain murky at best. When it comes to crafting the endlessly discussed, all-encompassing “plan” to rebuild New Orleans, it’s unclear where the buck will stop.

… The Nagin administration didn’t respond to questions about the neighborhood planning process this week.

… [It has only now become widely apparent that] neighborhoods can immediately use their plans in seeking government or private grants not controlled by the state agency.

To get an idea of all the baffles, barriers, hurdles and hoops to contend with in this process, read every sentence of Becky Houtman’s last post on the topic of City Planning.

… the [state-level] LRA Fund Committee is holding the purse-strings

A plan is required to release federal relief funding, but little or no funding is given to the creation of a detailed and comprehensive plan.

Also note that rebuilding plans here take place under the specter of the ol’ Catch-22: Whom are we rebuilding for? Said differently, if we rebuild, how many will come back? And, what do they come back to if we don’t rebuild? Open dialogues, especially important ones, don’t happen quietly.

5. Mean Ol’ Levees: All of the above is background chatter without federal levees that don’t break. The mouse in my pocket and I would “quietly rebuild” with glee if we had the wherewithal, and our entire region isn’t at the mercy of the Army Corps of Engineers for this tremendous engineering task.  Even today, Officials Disagree on Readiness of New Orleans Levees for Storms.

6. The Gettin’ Ain’t So Good: Many New Orleanians, whether here or displaced, are yet to rebuild a life to get on with. If you were to live in a trailer or with family and friends, are un(der)employed, fight insurance companies and try to make life as normal as possible for your family and yourself everyday, I wouldn’t consider it “going on.”  That’s simple survival.

Anything else? It’s a pity that, in this age of technology, global business and rapid monetary exchange, Louisiana has to justify itself to the rest of the nation. Yet, we abide.

Oyster and I.D.Reilly analyze John Barry’s latest Op-Ed piece in USA Today: “A City Worth Saving.” You must remember Barry as the author of 1998’s Rising Tide, a title that served as inspiration for an eponymous conference that occurred not too long ago. To give you some idea of the prescient and compelling quality of Barry’s book, several friends who don’t usually read too many books have read this one and forced me to do the same after the deluge. This led to many an “I Told You So” moment, which should only lend more steam to a national literacy initiative. They hide this kind of information in books, you know.

Meanwhile, Alan consumes Disaster by our newest buds, Chris Cooper & Robert Block.

We are fortunate to have our neighbor Texas, which dispatched more resources to Louisiana than FEMA, which was absent three days after the storm. We are fortunate for the intervention of Wal-Mart, which brought necessities to the National Guard at the Convention Center, when FEMA could not.

I’ve compiled a Google spreadsheet of books related to Hurricane Katrina – here is the HTML version (simply copy and paste in your favorite program). If you’re interested in editing or adding to the list or simply want the spreadsheet for your records, let me know and the document is yours via the neato “share” functionality.

[Update: This why they call it Google Spreadsheets BETA.  The latest link to the HTML version of the spreadsheet leads you to a Google login/registration page.  Once in, you get … a blank page.  Oooops!  Like I said, if you can’t see the spreadsheet, let me know and I’ll share it with you via Google.  That seems to work.]

The two books from the list I haven’t read and in which am interested are There Is No Such Thing As A Natural Disaster and Breach Of Faith. Also, why would Rod Amis write a book entitled Katrina & The Lost City Of New Orleans, in which he compares New Orleans to Pompeii and Atlantis? Earth to Rod, there ain’t no ash or gills on this woman with a home and internet access.

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad awaits me. The book was cracked open around this time last year and put away thanks to You-Know-What. My brain craves some escapist science fiction these days.